Have you ever watched a TV series and in the middle of the episode, you instantly knew it was something special? Was this the episode that elevated the show you were enjoying to become a modern classic? The Sopranos did it. Battlestar Galactica. Lost. All the greats do it. And now The Penguin has done it too. The fourth episode of the show, “Cent’anni,” turns the emotional resonance of the series on its head with a shocking, horrifying, yet wonderful TV episode focused on Sophia Falcone (played by Kristin Milotti) and her divine folly. It’s amazing.
Prior to this episode, we weren’t entirely sure what to make of Sophia. We knew she was in Arkham because she was accused of killing multiple women, earning her the nickname “The Executioner.” We knew Oz (Colin Farrell) was afraid of her, but we assumed it was because she was the lady of the house he was trying to take over. And we thought Oz had convinced her he didn’t kill her brother, even though he did. Essentially, The Penguin wanted us to see Sophia as a scary but emotionally unstable and complex villain. Nothing more. Now that we know exactly who she is and how she got there, she has become the most interesting character on the show.
In the final episode “Please,” we saw Victor smash his car to save Sophia and Oz from the Maroni crime family. However, Oz asked Victor to leave Sophia, which seemed odd at the time since they were allies. Well, in the fantastic first part of the storytelling in the fourth episode, we learned that Sophia was finally told Oz was the one who killed her brother, so his abandonment of her became something else entirely. It was a reveal we assumed would come at some point, but discovering it this way added some intriguing context.
But that was just the beginning. From there, we delve into the past where we meet a younger, happier Sophia with her father, crime boss Carmine Falcone (played here by Mark Strong, who took over the role previously played by John Turturro in Batman) and her brother Alberto (Michael Zegen). The family seems very happy, to the point where Carmine tells Sophia that despite her older brother, he will leave the family business to her. The big Dragon’s Den vibes.
Of course, things don’t go according to plan. Sophia discovers that someone – later revealed to be her father – was killing women and covering the crimes up as suicide, and returns to her mother and Alberto. Sophia learns this in what she assumes is private but her driver, Oz, frightens her.
It’s certainly a betrayal, but at this point, you still see it from Oz’s perspective. We won’t realize until later that Oz is the one who started a series of events that were incomprehensible to Sophia. Based on Oz’s information, Carmine confronts Sophia about the findings she has made, and even when she hints that her father might have been killing women, everything changes. He accused her of the murders, sent her to Arkham, and did it so she never got out.
Her father’s swift and vicious betrayal was extremely unkind. But when we learn that Sophia’s entire family – except her brother – lied about her mental state to keep her there, you truly feel sorry for her. And then, you feel worse and worse as the episode Mass for a Dream unfolds with the doctors and inmates at Arkham, it also seems they plan to turn the smart and balanced Sophia into the violent, mad murderer that her father lied about. Violence and betrayal seem never-ending, and then we learn it has been going on for 10 years.
As we watch innocent Sophia suffer mental and physical horrors – all of which started with Oz – your perspective begins to shift. Is Oz really the main character in this story because he’s Batman’s famous villain? He’s just a former driver seeking power. Or is the main character the rightful heir to the throne, who has been betrayed by almost everyone she loved, and is struggling to escape hell in order to return? This is by far the most intriguing story. And once The Penguin comes out of the flashback and back to the present, it’s a different show.
Now we are alongside Sophia. We want to see her get revenge. We are angry because Oz killed Alberto, the only family member who believed in Sophia and fought for her. We urgently need her to avenge her aunts and uncles, and that’s what she does, with a brilliant final scene of her killing almost everyone in the house without flinching. The chef’s kiss.
“Cent’anni,” written by John Macotchin and directed by Helen Shive, is not just the best episode ever. The Penguin, it’s one of the best TV episodes of the year. This writing barely scratches the surface of all the excellent choices it makes (the wallpaper! the fork! the cake!) or, more importantly, Milotti’s performance that deserves all the accolades. In fact, the episode was so good, I’m now fully on Team Sophia. They should rename the show “Falcone.”
The Penguin is now streaming on Max.
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